Built for the first call.

There is a moment, in the life of every company and every person of consequence, when the telephone must be picked up and a lawyer must be found. A transaction that will define a decade. An investigator at the door. A contract worth everything, or an accusation worth more.

The First Counsel was built for that moment.

We practice two disciplines, deliberately paired: corporate law — the architecture of ownership, capital, and agreement — and white-collar defense — the protection of reputation, liberty, and enterprise when the state’s attention turns. Most firms choose one. We hold that the counsel who drafts the contract should understand the courtroom where it may one day be read aloud, and that the advocate who defends the boardroom should understand what the board was trying to build.

Our standard is unfashionable: fewer clients, deeper counsel, partners on every matter. We measure the firm not by its size but by a simpler test — when it matters most, whose number is dialed first.